INDIGO FARMERS IN COLONIAL BENGAL AND GANDHI’S INTERVENTION by Lisa Trivedi, Christian A. Johnson Professor of Teaching Excellence and History, Hamilton College
Today, the deep blue color associated with indigo is synthetically largely created in a lab rather than grown on India’s vast agricultural lands. In the West, indigo is most commonly associated with blue jeans made popular by Levi Strauss & Co during the California Gold Rush, rather than with the human exploitation upon which its global trade depended. In “Homage to the Farmers of Champaran 1917-18,” Shelly Jyoti has assembled 300 indigo textile discs printed on khadi, to represent the hundreds of thousands of farmers whose labor produced indigo, sometimes at their expense and that of their families. Each individual disk is connected to a series of others, signaling that farming was undertaken by the entire family-, caste-, and, sometimes, village-communities. Notice how each disk moves independently and in sync with others in the installation. Cultivating indigo was a common thread upon which these communities were enriched, but, more commonly, impoverished. Jyoti’s installation emphasizes again the interdependence of communities across the globe from South Asia and Africa, to Europe, North America and the Caribbean. It also reminds us of the possibilities of interconnectedness enabled through the creation of ajrakh-printed cloth, dyed with indigo on the fabric of Gandhi’s Indian nation, homespun home-woven cloth, known as khadi.
“Not a chest of indigo reached England without being stained with human blood,” wrote the English Judge, Edward De Latour. The exploitation Indian farmers who grew indigo for global profit was captured evocatively in Nil Darpan (in Bengali: নীল দর্পণ) or The Indigo Mirror, a play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1860. Eventually, indigo became closely associated with India’s freedom struggle when Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) initiated his first Indian satyagraha, or nonviolent protest, on behalf of tenant farmers exploited by indigo cultivation in Champaran, Bihar, in 1917-18. When German synthetically-produced blue dye became unavailable during the First World War, British officials turned to Indian farmers, requiring indigo cultivation on each parcel of land leased or payment of a substantial tax. Gandhi was alarmed to learn that Bihari peasants had been coerced into growing indigo rather than rice and pulses during a period of famine.
In November 1917, Gandhi initiated the Champaran satyagraha which was designed as a means to put an end to their suffering. Gandhi’s investigation, as well as articles and speeches that drew upon it, were met with government sanction. He was arrested by British colonial authorities in April 1918 and ordered to pay a Rs. 100 security. Because Gandhi viewed the government’s revenue policies unjust, he refused to pay. Thousands of supporters of the indigo farmers and Gandhi rallied outside the courthouse, forcing local authorities to release Gandhi and vacate the charges made against him.
Gandhi immediately turned his attention away from the colonial government and their unjust policies to Indian landlords. In what would become a signature of his mass political movement for Indian independence, or swaraj, Gandhi focused attention on the role that Indians themselves played in colonial domination. Gandhi eventually called off the Champaran satyagraha after he reached an agreement with Indian landlords that granted greater autonomy to poor farmers over what they grew, and canceled revenue hikes and collection until the end of the famine. Gandhi’s success in Champaran led India’s Nobel poet laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, to anoint him Mahatma, or “Great Soul.”
India celebrated Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha in 2017-2018, thereby raising awareness about the plight of Indigo farmers a century earlier. Given its history, indigo continues to have deep resonances with modern India’s post-colonial identity as can be seen in filmmaker Swati Dandekar’s 2019 film, Neeli Raag, or Blue Cloth, which focuses on India’s dying indigo trade and lives today that have been upended by the synthetic indigo.
Wall Text version (Word count 496)
Today, the deep blue color associated with indigo is synthetically largely created in a lab rather than grown on India’s vast agricultural lands. In the West, indigo is most commonly associated with blue jeans made popular by Levi Strauss & Co during the California Gold Rush, rather than with the human exploitation upon which its global trade depended. In Homage to the Farmers of Champaran 1917-18, Shelly Jyoti has assembled 300 indigo textile discs printed on khadi, to represent the hundreds of thousands of farmers whose labor produced indigo, sometimes at their expense and that of their families. Each individual disk is connected to a series of others, signaling that farming was undertaken by the entire family-, caste-, and, sometimes, village-communities. Notice how each disk moves independently and in sync with others in the installation. Cultivating indigo was a common thread upon which these communities were enriched, but, more commonly, impoverished. Jyoti’s installation emphasizes again the interdependence of communities across the globe from South Asia and Africa, to Europe, North America and the Caribbean. It also reminds us of the possibilities of interconnectedness enabled through the creation of ajrakh-printed cloth, dyed with indigo on the fabric of Gandhi’s Indian nation, homespun home-woven cloth, known as khadi.
“Not a chest of indigo reached England without being stained with human blood,” wrote the English Judge, Edward De Latour. The exploitation Indian farmers who grew indigo for global profit was captured evocatively in Nil Darpan (in Bengali: নীল দর্পণ) or The Indigo Mirror, a play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1860. Eventually, indigo became closely associated with India’s freedom struggle when Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) initiated his first Indian satyagraha, or nonviolent protest, on behalf of tenant farmers exploited by indigo cultivation in Bihar. Gandhi’s Champaran satyagraha (1917-1918) was designed as a means to put an end to the suffering of famine-stricken Bihari peasants coerced into growing indigo rather than foodstuffs.. Hundreds of thousands of supporters of the indigo farmers and Gandhi joined the satyagraha, eventually forcing British authorities to release Gandhi and vacate the charges made against him.
Gandhi turned his attention away from the colonial government to Indian landlords. In what would become a signature of his mass politics, Gandhi focused attention on the role that Indians played in enabling colonial power. Gandhi called off the Champaran satyagraha after reaching an agreement with Indian landlords that granted greater autonomy to poor farmers over what they grew, and canceled revenue hikes and collection until the end of the famine.
Gandhi’s success in Champaran led India’s Nobel poet laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, to anoint him Mahatma, or “Great Soul.” India celebrated the centenary of Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha in 2017-2018, thereby raising awareness about the plight of Indigo farmers a century earlier. Given its long and important history, indigo continues to have deep resonances with modern India’s post-colonial identity as can be seen in filmmaker Swati Dandekar’s 2019 film, Neeli Raag, or Blue Cloth, which focuses on India’s dying indigo trade and the lives today that have been upended by the synthetic indigo.